Development of a F.E.M. of the Human Head According to a Specific Test Protocol

Finite Element Models of the head are more and more often used to analyse brain injury risk during car crashes. Nevertheless, if the properties of head components such as brain, cerebral spinal fluid and membranes can be evaluated, the behaviour of the head has not yet been sufficiently validated as a whole.

This paper deals with the development process of the model and the biomechanical data specifically generated for this purpose. Cadavers were re-pressurized and fully instrumented in order to measure 3D head dynamic, CSF pressure in various points of the subarachnoϊd space or in ventricles and intracerebral accelerations. For this last, a specific protocol has been developed; accelerometers have been designed to implant them at the right places.

Tests were performed in various impact situations involving thorax and head segments with or without paddings. Results are proposed and a parametric study is made in the range of known data for head components in an attempt to validate the F.E.M.